Early Life
Gabrielle Monique Union was born in Omaha, Nebraska on October 29, 1972. However, she and her family moved to California when she was only 8.
In high school, Gabrielle was a successful athlete, excellent at soccer, track, and basketball. She briefly returned to her hometown to attend the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, but after a semester there, she moved to California once again.
She started working at a Payless shoe store where she was attacked at gunpoint and sexually assaulted by a robber. The incident led her to become an activist working on issues around women’s health and violence against women.
Career
Gabrielle went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in sociology from UCLA and started working as an intern at a modeling agency where she would often be mistaken for a model. After her internship was up, the agency invited her to work for them as a model.
Modeling for a while, she moved on to acting and soon started getting roles in movies and TV shows, her earliest appearances being in Saved by the Bell, 10 Things I Hate About You, She’s All That, and Love & Basketball. Union’s breakthrough role was in the movie Bring It On where she starred alongside Kirsten Dunst.
In 2005, she co-starred with Jeremy Renner in Neo Ned which landed her an award for Best Actress at the Palm Beach International Film Festival.
She’s since starred in countless other movies and shows, and in 2017, her first book came out, titled We’re Going to Need More Wine.
In the News
Gabrielle Union and her husband, Dwayne Wade, welcomed their baby girl Kaavia in November 2018. Now, in honor of her daughter, Gabrielle is expanding her New York & Company collection to include clothes for babies 0 – 24 months old.
For more celebrity news, stay tuned with the Shade Room!
